Improvement in current-wheels



c. WEEKL Current Wheels.

No. 141,301, Patentedjuly29fl873.

. Invemnr: K ZV Z Fer Attorneys.

AM. PHO TU-LITHDGRAPHIL ca MY (ossomvz's PROCESS.)

NITEDS STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHRISTOPH WEEKE, OF ST. CHARLES, MISSOURI.

IMPROVEMENT IN CURRENT-WHEELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 141,301, dated July 29, 1873; application filed April 26, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GHRIsToPH WEEKE, of St. Charles, in the county of St. Charles and State of Missouri, have invented a new and Improved Current-Wheel, of which the following is a specification:

My invention consists of a pair of boats arranged at some distance apart, connected by frame-work and supporting a couple of revolvin g drums between them, whereon endless chains with a series of buckets work, one of the drums being provided with tackle for swinging it up and down, and having deflectors connected with it to Vary the influence of the water on the buckets according to the power required. The other drum, which is in stationary bearings, gears with a vertical drum which is to transmit the power by a belt, and is as long as the extreme distance between high and low water to allow the boats to rise and fall and yet work the driving-belt properly.

Figure l is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is a plan view. Fig. 3 is a plan of the frame for connecting the up-stream end to the bank and deflecting the ice and drift, and Fig. 4 isaside elevation of a belt-tightening device to be used with the driving-belt for taking up its slack.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

A and B represent the two boats, which are arranged side by side as far apart as the required length of the buckets. 0 and D represent the revolving drums arranged between said boats and carrying the endless chains E, to which the buckets F are attached. The drum-shaft at the lip-stream end is arranged in fixed bearings, but the other one is in bearings which rise and fall in the slotted housings J by adjusting-screws L, and the guardplates M are arranged to rise and fall with it to confine the current of water on the buckets as much as possible. The drums will be so that one can be shifted toward and from the other a little to regulate the tension of the chains. The shaft of the front drum gears, by bevel-wheels N, with the long vertical drum 0, which is to transmit the power by a suitable driving-belt. The upper journal of this drum is mounted in the beam of a vertical frame, I, in which are four rollers, R, which bear against the Wall or bulk-head on the bank to support and steady the frame as the float rises and'falls', the said rollers being pulled against the bank or wall by the driving-belt. They materially lessen the friction of the frame on the wall. The two boats are connected by the beams Q R; the latter is slanting to shed the ice and drift. S is the frame for connecting the bows of the boat to the bank; it is also contrived to slant so as to shed the drift. T is a belt-tightening contrivance, which I propose to use with the drivingbelt to regulate its tension by the Weight which is to pull the roller in the sliding gate against the belt.

Having thus described myinvention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- The boats A B, drums O D, chains E, buckets F, guards M, slotted housings J, adjusting-screws L, drum 0, and the connectingwheels N, combined and arranged substantially as specified.

OHRISTOPH WEEKE.

Witnesses:

J N0. E. STOMBRAKER, B. B. KINGSBURY. 

